What zones should be highlighted?
Landscape design development begins with zoning – it involves not only dividing into functional areas, but also creating convenient approaches between them.
- The main space of any summer cottage is residential. It includes the house and the area around it.
- The next area is the working area. It, in turn, can be divided into separate parts of the vegetable garden, garden, and this also includes outbuildings – a barn, a granary and a well.
- The recreation area can look completely different: a veranda attached to the house, a separate terrace, a gazebo, a patio, a pergola. The recreation area has a swimming pool, sun loungers, a hammock, a bathhouse and other attributes.
Important! Landscape, for example, alpine slides or other elements, are not allocated as a separate space: they are used to decorate existing ones.
The photo shows a recreation area near the house
If you are going to redistribute and plan your dacha plot in a new way, pay attention to the generally accepted standards:
- ~10% should be occupied by buildings;
- ~15% is allocated for the utility area, landscaping and paths;
- the remaining 75% is divided into the garden and vegetable garden, including a recreation area.
Dacha buildings
Dacha landscape design begins with an assessment of the existing facilities and drawing up a plan. First of all, you should determine the exact size and presence, as well as the location of buildings.
The main detail of any garden is the house. The ideal place for its placement is near the entrance and parking, so that you do not have to carry heavy bags from the car and back across the entire site.
Important! If you bought a garden without a house, build it in the same corner as most of your neighbors – this will simplify the choice of location and allow you to locate the living space away from prying eyes.
It makes sense to place a garage or open parking right at the entrance, so that you don’t have to drive through the entire area.
Outbuildings (for example, a shed with garden tools and a woodshed), on the contrary, are hidden in the depths of the garden plot. Or they are located in another convenient place, ennobling them with hedges, decorative lattices and other methods of vertical gardening.
Important! The utility block should not create a shadow on your dacha, the good side is the north or northwest.
The photo shows a dacha house and neatly stacked firewood
The recreation area includes various attributes, depending on the composition of the family and your personal preferences:
- gazebo, pergola or terrace;
- summer kitchen;
- swimming pool or decorative pond;
- bathhouse or sauna;
- children’s or sports ground.
In landscape design, there are two accepted placement scenarios: in the backyard immediately behind the house, or in the depths of the country site, hidden from prying eyes.
Thinking through the paths
Just as architects think over the length and location of roads in the city, you should determine the locations for future paths in the garden.
The main principle is as follows: before laying a path, understand where it should lead.
Main connections:
- a house with any other areas – from a garden to a toilet;
- between flower beds and garden beds inside a vegetable garden;
- separate areas between each other: a vegetable garden and a utility block, a gazebo and a bathhouse.
The appearance of the paths themselves is also important: it determines their “activity” in landscape design, and also helps to maintain a certain style.
Main options:
- Imitation of small stones. Outline the path on the ground and pour light small gravel, plant plants on both sides.
- Flat stones. Choose them to create the desired outline and direction. Dark stones go well with lawns, light ones look great in beds and flower beds.
- Paving stones. They go perfectly with greenery and do not attract unnecessary attention.
- Saw cuts. An affordable and easy-to-process material, the main thing is to protect it from rotting with special impregnations.
- Large stones. Lying separately at a short distance from each other, they create an ideal background for oriental minimalist styles.
- Thermally modified wood. If you are planning to arrange the area in a modern style and use this board, for example, on the terrace, then decorating garden paths with it is an excellent solution.
Advice! On a small summer cottage, tall flowers are planted on one side of the path, and low flowers on the other. This technique helps to visually enlarge the space.
The photo shows a path made of natural stone
Landscaping: flower beds, lawn, etc.
Landscaping a garden plot involves planting not only flowers, shrubs and trees, but also grass: or more precisely, a lawn.
The lawn in the garden performs a lot of different functions and for each you should choose your own option:
- decorative – suggests the most delicate beautiful grass, which is used only for decoration and requires constant care, you can not walk on it;
- sports – choose trampling-resistant plants with strong roots (bench grass, red fescue, etc.);
- universal – usually it is preferred to all the others, it combines beautiful greenery and strong roots, you can walk, sit, lie on the surface.
A separate green lawn is rarely used in landscape design, most often it is combined with flowers, trees, shrubs, vines.
Flower beds in the landscape can look like a border (fences paths, recreation areas and other territory) or a bed (a separate decorative element). By appearance, there are:
- Mixborder. A flowerbed that combines plants of various sizes and formats: from small flowers to bushes and even trees. Often planted along a fence or wall.
- Rockery. The second name is an alpine slide. A mandatory attribute, in addition to flowers, is stones. Usually done in English or Japanese style.
- Vertical flowerbed. A salvation for a small area, as well as an area that requires upward landscaping. One composition contains many perennial flowers, while not taking up much space.
- Modular. Plants are planted in special containers, trays or placed between the slabs of paths and terraces.
The photo shows a light path on the lawn
Low-growing shrubs in landscape design are included in a mixborder, planted along a fence or used as a hedge. If a high “green fence” is needed, they are supplemented with trellises with perennial climbing plants, trees or vertical flower beds.
The main, simultaneously positive and negative, quality of trees is the creation of shade. Therefore, the place for their planting should be chosen especially carefully: use them to shade the windows of the house or a recreation area. If shade is not needed on the site, carefully study the movement of the sun and choose the space based on this knowledge.
Important! On a small plot, it is better to move the trees to the far fence.
The photo shows a coniferous mixborder
How can you decorate ponds?
Looking at fire and water calms and energizes. The element of fire is used in every summer cottage (stove, barbecue, fireplace, hearth), and ponds are still a rarity in landscape design. Depending on your wishes and the size of your dacha, you can choose between a functional (pool) or decorative (pond, waterfall) water source.
The pool is installed in the recreation area: if the climate does not allow you to dig and build a permanent one, use a simple inflatable or frame pool – you can find any shape and size on sale.
Advice! Don’t forget to put furniture (chaise lounges, a small table) near the pool and make a shelter from the sun (an umbrella or a canopy).
The photo shows a homemade pond with a waterfall
You can also buy a ready-made decorative pond or make one yourself. A ready-made version is a plastic container of any shape, which is simply dug into the soil and decorated.
A decorative pond is also placed near the recreation area so that you can admire it during gatherings. Ideally, the location will be in a lowland with high humidity – this space is not suitable for cultivating and growing crops, but it is ideal for organizing a backwater.
The pond is lined with tiles or stones, aquatic plants are planted in it, decorated with suitable figures – birds, fish, frogs. For additional entourage, you can make underwater lighting.
If you want to enjoy not only the view, but also the sound of water, complement the pond with a small waterfall or fountain. You will have to buy a pump, and the rest can be done with your own hands.
Advice! A waterfall or fountain can also be made separately, combined with a flowerbed or placed in any suitable corner.
What kind of dacha decor should I use?
Designs using painted tires or gnome figures are a thing of the past; today, decor is used to emphasize style and create a special atmosphere.
- For example, plaster or metal statues hidden in dense greenery will fit perfectly into the classical direction.
- Flower trays or pots can have a decorative function: they can be beautiful, unusual geometric shapes or quite recognizable silhouettes (house, pagoda).
- If a pond or dry stream is included in the landscape design, make a bridge across it – wooden, stone or rope.
- Lighting can also perform a decorative function: beautiful lanterns, garlands, illumination of flower beds, trees, ponds. All these elements will give the garden a special charm in the dark.
It won’t be without alterations: gardeners usually use old things as flower beds. Here are some simple ideas:
- Plant flowers in a pair of unusual shoes.
- Make an imitation of “spilled water” from white or blue flowers and a jug or barrel laid on its side.
- Take an old chest of drawers outside and make small flower beds from individual boxes.
- Build a Baba Yaga house or other fairy-tale attributes next to the playground, involve the child’s imagination!
The photo shows an unusual “spilled” flowerbed
What style can you use?
Perhaps the most popular style in the CIS is country. The country style involves the abundant use of wood, landscaping is done by means of fruit trees and shrubs, there is enough space left on the site for a vegetable garden.
The photo shows a dacha plot in the English style
The English style is also as natural as possible, but more cozy and decorative. Its second name, landscape, conveys the main goal: to create a beautiful picture. Therefore, it is used mainly in large areas. The priority is an abundance of greenery, natural materials, a combination of lawn and vertical cultivation.
The Mediterranean direction is suitable for southern regions and relief areas. It is distinguished by its love of flowers, the combination of green with white and blue, and the wide use of natural stone.
The photo shows the oriental style in design
The space near a stylish modern house is ennobled in the best traditions of high-tech. Geometric shapes are the main condition for success, so plants need to be constantly trimmed or initially planted varieties with natural correct crowns.
The photo shows an example of landscape design of a summer cottage in a modern style
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